American Blake Young to make MotoGP debut

AMA Superbike Championship runner-up Blake Young is make his MotoGP debut, riding for Attack Performance as a wild-card in the three US rounds.

Young takes over the Attack CRT ride from Steve Rapp, who debuted the Kawasaki-powered machine at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis last season.

Rapp didn't qualify for the US GP but finished 15th at Indy - ahead of fellow wild-card Aaron Yates (GPTech) - which then became 14th after a post-race penalty for James Ellison.

25-year-old Young, still unsigned for the AMA after losing his Yoshimura Suzuki seat, told CycleNews.com:

"[Attack] gave me a call and asked if I'd be interested... at this point I'm pretty much interested in anything and I think this is a good opportunity. To be in that [MotoGP] paddock and to learn from those guys... I'm fairly young and that's something I've always wanted to do. Maybe CRT is the future and I'd like to be on an American team at the American rounds."

GPTech is also due to return for the three US events - the new round at Austin, Texas on April 21 joining Laguna Seca and Indianapolis.

Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies and Colin Edwards will again represent America during the full MotoGP season.